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Gema madness: dance schools fight for unfair fee regulation!
Dance schools in Bad Dürkheim fight against rising GEMA fees. A petition is supposed to prevent new tariffs.
Gema madness: dance schools fight for unfair fee regulation!
With new tariffs, the GEMA strikes the dance schools like a flash. The owner of the Dürkheim dance house La Danza, Katja Hillenkamp, sees herself existentially threatened by the rising fees. According to reports, the German dance school owner Association (Div) launched a petition with around 58,000 supporters to protest against the new fees that replace the flat rate with individual contracts, such as rheinpfalz.de reported. For every dance school, this change means that it now has to make individual registrations, which significantly increases the administrative effort.
The new rules also mean that the fees must increase in many cases. While in the past each dance school paid around 6,000 euros a year to GEMA, net sales, the size of the dance floor and the amount of the course fees are crucial, reports Kreiszeitung.de. This ensures great lack of understanding among the dance schools, since the GEMA defines the tariffs without negotiations and, in addition, does not get involved in general contractual conditions with some associations, which further exacerbates the location of the dance schools.
An unfortunate dance
The Div practices sharp criticism of GEMA and is outraged by the new tariff policy. According to Dietmar Buermann, the chairman of the Div, GEMA endangers the existence of many dance schools, which are now forced to raise the course fees. The new WR dance tariff, which came into force on January 1, 2023, should no longer be calculated from the net curs of the dance schools, no longer from the size of the dance floor, which makes billing more complicated. Before the associated increases in the course fees, even couples who want to take a dance course are not immune.
In Germany, organizations such as GEMA enjoy a factual monopoly and implement the rules without prior tariff discussions. While Gema argues that it has communicated with the associations, the displeasure of the dance schools remains great, especially since they have to fear that the new regulations endanger their business models.